News / Yemen

French rights group sues Abu Dhabi crown prince over war crimes in Yemen

Wednesday, 21 November 2018 6:07 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 21 November 2018 6:11 PM ]

The file photo shows Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan reviewing an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 4, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

A rights group based in France has filed a lawsuit against Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan during his visit to Paris over his complicity in war crimes committed in Yemen.

The complaint filed by the International Alliance for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms (AIDL) on Wednesday accused Prince Mohammed, who is Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, of war crimes, complicity in torture and inhumane treatment in Yemen.

"He is the supreme leader of the United Arab Emirates' armed forces, and with (Saudi crown prince) Mohammed Bin Salman, he is also the instigator of the whole war that is now taking place in Yemen and the methods used for this war, meaning massive and indiscriminate bombardment," lawyer Joseph Breham, who represents the AIDL in filing the suit, said.

He added that a number of Yemenis have joined the lawsuit filed in a Paris court.

The complaint cited a report by UN experts that said airstrikes conducted by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Yemen may amount to war crimes and that torture was carried out in two centers run by Emirati troops.

The complaint made reference to aerial attacks that targeted a crowded funeral ceremony in the capital Sana’a in October 2016 and killed more than 140 people.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

Save the Children, a UK-based charity, said on Tuesday that more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the brutal war on the already-impoverished nation.

PressTV-‘85,000 Yemeni kids may have died of hunger amid Saudi war’

Save the Children says for every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death amid the brutal war and blockade led by Saudi Arabia.

AIDL also referenced documents from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Oxfam on arbitrary detentions and the use of illegal cluster bombs in the lawsuit.

Prince Mohammed arrived in Paris on Wednesday to meet President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe amid calls for the suspension of France’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

French prosecutors are already studying a lawsuit filed in April against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on similar charges.

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